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31

General Car Chat / Sobering thought

« on: 24 December 2017, 14:46:01 »

My 3 year old granddaughter was on her way up to our house on her scooter with my son  and suddenly went off piste and glanced a parked car. It had made a mark on the car so my son knocked at house  door to report.

A little girl answers - "is your Daddy in" my son says, reply "no my daddy is in the sky". Mother arrived and didn't show any interest in the slight damage. Anyhow my son gave her some money to sort it out as in his view it would not be cured by T cut - turns out her husband was changing a gearbox on his drive and it fell off the axle stands and killed him. Wasn't expecting this story when my son and granddaughter arrived.

32

General Discussion Area / Tyre transportation

« on: 26 September 2017, 05:13:19 »

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n44ht4enb50co2l/2017-09-20%2011.22.47.jpg?dl=0

33

General Discussion Area / Vodafone Broadband

« on: 01 April 2017, 09:31:52 »

Anyone using Vodafone Broadband fibre? Thinking of switching to it so wondered if anyone had  experiences of this - good or bad. A few bad reviews on web but I suppose that is the case with all of them.

34

General Discussion Area / EE Worldwide Insurance Cover - not

« on: 30 March 2017, 13:16:23 »

Just to keep life interesting I have referred a dispute with EE Insurance to the Financial Ombudsman.

Not only does my wife damage cars but she also drops Samsung Galaxy phones on the tiled floor of shoe shops in Miami. On first day of visit.

As it was just a smashed screen I phoned EE to get authority for repair. Nope - yes the advertising says worldwide cover and we can get you going but the phone has to come back to us and if you fix it locally the warranty will be invalidated. So it is not worldwide cover then - EE - yes it is but it is a replacement only cover.

I got it fixed by UbreakIfix in 2 hours and cancelled EE insurance as a waste of money.

So matter is now with Ombudsman - I see that in the small print it is not covered but the advertising does not convey that view. In future - take spare phone or leave wife at home.

35

General Discussion Area / Open Reach v BT

« on: 24 March 2017, 23:30:38 »

I ended up in the middle of an arse kicking contest today - Broadband speed at office has dropped over last couple of days. Called BT who remotely did some tests and said we needed an engineer round who arrived at 1pm and was there 2 hours doing tests. He confirms we are getting max speed at the socket and the service provider will have to deal with this. Hang on - you are BT!! No I am Open Reach he says. He is then on phone to BT who tell him he has no authority to ask for adjustment between the BRAS (which I looked up as Broadband Remote Access Server) and the throughput. So an argument basically developed with BT and Openreach engineer on my mobile trying to get it sorted.

I have looked up all this stuff as basically BT want to send another engineer and the one who has been says they can send as many as they like but it is BT not syncing the BRAS with the throughput.

I can just about follow the technical argument but who the hell is going to do anything about it.

Looks like another bureaucratic nightmare being passed from pillar to post.

Anyone out there got any contacts or tech knowledge as to how similar issues have played out. Another engineer is coming Monday.

36

General Car Chat / Key fob issues

« on: 08 January 2017, 15:22:31 »

I went out to the Astra and tried to unlock with key fob - no response. Tried the spare and same thing. Opened with key, alarm went off, key in ignition and started car. Alarm silenced. But fobs do not work at all.

My wife's insignia and neighbours Lexus suffering exactly same problems.

On a community site people half a mile away are reporting similar problems - they suspect jammers. VW and Ford not affected.

Tried resynch of key fob but no joy.

Thought jammers had to be line of sight.

37

General Car Chat / Close encounter

« on: 25 November 2016, 23:40:31 »

Whilst travelling up to Manchester last week I noticed a noise on acceleration. After a while engine light came on. No performance problems and carried onto destination.  Phoned RAC who said if light on yellow or orange it is ok to drive so they would not come out. Phoned VW who would not say one way or the other as they may be held liable and they could not book me in for a check for a few days.

Anyhow drove it back to Sandhurst - luckily it was the turbo air pipe which for some reason had come unclipped. VW Camberley fixed it in 15 minutes and didn't charge. I had it booked in for turbo check and it has been declared ok. I enquired as to their prices for replacing Turbo if it had gone - £4000. £1500 for part then all the gaskets and oils etc etc plus labour. Turbo's are available on the bay for a few hundred but the engine has to come out to fit.

I think I need to find an indie to see what kind of price they would charge. Phaeton is now 7 years old - looks and drives like new - but is doing 220 x 2 miles every trip plus Cornwall in a couple of weeks. Big decision in new year as to keeping it. £4000 was twice price I was thinking of. Still on original exhaust, batteries and front discs and pads  - if replacing those was only cost then no probs but turbo, gearbox etc means silly money.

38

General Car Chat / How to be in denial about your driving abilities

« on: 25 November 2016, 13:45:51 »

Just had a couple of body shop guys around to the house to give prices - my wife has sensors all round but has now managed to back the Insignia into neighbours car on our drive; a few months ago she backed into a skip (blamed the angle of the skip design as reason sensors didn't kick in), and a few weeks before that backed into the refuse bins on our drive which had been put out for collection - ok the drive is long and part on a slight bend. she has now blamed the current issue on the fact that the mirrors dip when in reverse on the Insignia.

She went very defensive when I suggested that there is a pattern to these incidents.

At least body shop guys can amalgamate all of the damage including when we lent the Insignia to my son in law who put a roof box on but the fitters didn't check clearance with the estate boot lid......

I think a VW UP will be her next car.

39

General Car Chat / Ford Focus 2008 1.6 Titanium manual

« on: 06 November 2016, 09:38:07 »

Hope it is a battery - just loading my tools and starter boost to head off to my daughters. Car started lurching and transmission light came on and various other electrical oddities. did a bit of checking on line and seems could be dead cell in battery or alternator. Anybody come across anything like this??

40

General Car Chat / MOT tests on diesels

« on: 14 October 2016, 21:44:50 »

Noticed on paperwork following mot that they do not do an emissions test if you have a diesel particulate filter and also a disclaimer that the garage is not responsible for engine failure during mot tests on diesel engines. Is this usual or just this dealership.

41

General Discussion Area / The times in which we live

« on: 14 October 2016, 15:22:12 »

Dropped Phaeton off for mot and so took bus to station. A bit miffed it was before 9.30 and so my old fart's pass not valid. Lady gets on with pram - starts messing with phone. Later realised she is at her stop and starts to get off - three standing in  corridor all engrossed in texting etc - nobody moves and bus sets off - she has to go to next stop but is then texting presumably to explain to someone why she is not where she is supposed to be.

42

General Car Chat / One for Jason

« on: 13 October 2016, 18:55:54 »

What is the correct position on dealing with motorway closure signs. 3 lanes of m25 were going down to 1. The overhead gantry lights first had white arrows pointing to the one open Lane and distance boards showed the distance to the roadworks. I kept going until the overhead arrows changed to red showing lanes closed and pulled into the single line of traffic. Many cars and lorries kept going in the other lanes despite the red Lane closed lights and consequently a large build up in the single line who had obeyed what I would have expected to be the rules. Needless to say no one around to police it and it would have been more efficient for them to have just left it showing single Lane and not bothered with Lane closure lights. Very frustrating for a couple of miles traffic that had built up in single Lane. Next time can I just ignore the lane closure until I get to the constriction??

43

General Discussion Area / Euro Elites to blame?

« on: 25 June 2016, 22:09:21 »

http://www.democraticaudit.com/?p=10405

This was written in Jan 2015. Seems to be spot on.

44

General Car Chat / Windscreen fiasco

« on: 08 June 2016, 18:44:52 »

Had my Phaeton washed by a proper hand car wash on a hot day. Came to collect and they point out windscreen cracked when they put on cold water. Showed me cctv and I could not see them hit it in any way.

Anyhow they have offered to pay my windscreen excess of £80 and windscreen finally done today by National Windscreens as they had to use original VW part (heated, green tint, rain sensor etc) so has taken over a week to get sorted.

I think this is decent of car wash and when talking to insurers they say there must have been a crack to begin with for it to go in these circumstances. Not sure whether to take the £80 or not as I think guy managing operation is worried about keeping his job. I might just write this off in part and ask him to do a full valet or something so it costs them little.

45

General Discussion Area / Advertising your company

« on: 06 April 2016, 23:16:39 »

I wanted to buy one of the 12 month PAYG Data sims from Three. I phoned Three in Farnborough asked if they had one - "Yes" - ok I will pick it up - whereabouts are you in Farnborough? I ask . Answer - "Opposite Vodafone"!!!